Tag: aisling

How popular is the baby name Aisling in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, see baby names similar to Aisling and check out all the blog posts that mention the name Aisling.

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Popularity of the Baby Name Aisling

Number of Babies Named Aisling

Born in the U.S. Since 1880

Posts that Mention the Name Aisling

From a 2009 interview with 80s/90s pop star Taylor Dayne (born Leslie Wunderman):

Taylor Dayne had a major influence on pop culture when she hit the big time in 1987 with a string of hits that included Tell It To My Heart, Prove Your Love, I’ll Always Love You, Don’t Rush Me, With Every Beat of My Heart, Love Will Lead You Back and I’ll Be Your Shelter.

By 1993, the name Taylor hit its peak in popularity of baby names.

“You wonder where they generated from, right?” she yuks. “It was a very uncommon name in 1987, that’s for sure, but it’s a compliment.”

Perhaps she even inspired the name of country’s latest sensation, Taylor Swift, who was born in 1989. She laughs off the suggestion. “I would say that her mother was a fan.”

(The name Taylor had been rising steadily on the girls’ list throughout the ’80s, but Taylor Dayne helped kick the name into the top 10 in 1993. It stayed there for nearly a decade. According to records, some Taylors from this era did indeed get the middle name Dayne.)

From a 1911 newspaper item about about Georgia writer Corra May Harris:

Mrs. Harris finds much trouble in impressing the fact that her name is “Corra” and not “Cora”–the word being a family name.

From an interview with a man named Jörg who was raised in England, but later moved to Germany:

For my entire life up until the point I arrived in Germany at the age of 28 I pronounced my name wrong, saying Jurg instead of Jörg. Now that I’m in the land of Jörgs I pay more attention to getting the umlaut right, but I still say it slightly differently depending on whether I’m speaking English or German.

COLAPINTO: Yeah. I mean, one of their really great and successful ones is Swiffer, the – that cleaning product. And what was interesting about that is that the word – I think the first time I ever saw Swiffer on the shelf, it seemed sort of familiar to me, and I think it had something to do with that word, which – actually, when you look at it, you realize, no, it’s not saying swift. It seems to be, but it’s not quite saying that. What it is doing is it’s using certain parts of words that we think of when we mop up or clean. We sweep. We swipe.

We decided to give her a name: Aisling. Aisling’s the country girl who works up in Dublin but has precisely zero time for your city notions, thank you very much. She loves working in the Big Smoke – very sophisticated altogether – but she loves going Down Home every weekend even more. We saw Aisling everywhere: walking to work with her packed lunch in an old Brown Thomas bag, minding the handbags in Coppers on a Saturday night, being the one who knows how to work the office fax machine.

And so we started sharing our Aislingisms: “Aisling loves a good wake”; “Aisling has never hidden from the television licence inspector”; “Aisling knows the Weight Watchers points in everything”. Word started to spread because it turns out everyone knows an Aisling, or is an Aisling. Emer set up a Facebook group called Oh My God What A Complete Aisling, which has grown from just our circle of friends to having more than 37,000 members, all there for the love of Aisling and her quirks.

From the book Private Life in New Kingdom Egypt (2002) by Lynn Meskell:

The [Egyptian] newborn was named at birth…since without a name the individual could not exist.

A: Haha, yeah, I gotta give my wife credit, when she was pregnant in ’97-’98 there, we didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl, and she wanted to name it if it was a boy “Skate,” and I was like “Come on, I can’t have a boy named Skate.” So, we had a girl, and I was like “Thank God” [Note: the Skalde’s daughter is “True”] and then you know she gets pregnant again, and sure enough it’s a boy and we decided to go with it. And sure enough, he fits it perfectly, he loves the game, he’s passionate about it, he helps out and he’s around the room all the time with the guys.

One cast member had very few complaints about shooting in Hawaii, never letting it get in the way of her own agenda on the set. The filmmakers found Bertha, the water buffalo that [Jack] Black’s character rides, in Texas and flew her to Kauai on a special plane. But about midway through filming, everyone was in for a big surprise. One day the trainer called us and said, Oh, by the way, Bertha can’t work because when we showed up at the corral this morning, she had a calf, recalls producer McLeod. We didn’t know she was pregnant. No one knew she was pregnant. Bertha having this baby was definitely kind of a humorous morale booster for everyone. In honor of Jack Black, the animal trainer named Bertha’s baby Little Jack.

My husband is of Irish decent so we thought we’d like to use an Irish name for our first child. But I want to be sure it’s pronounced right. So how would you pronounce Ashleen. I thought it looks like the American Ashley with n sound added on, but I wasn’t sure which syllable gets the accent.

Though Ashleen and Ashley aren’t related (in this case), she’s right — the pronunciation would basically be Ashley with an n-sound.

Aisling is the original form of the name. It comes from an Irish word for “vision” or “dream.” (It’s also a poetic genre.) Though the pronunciation can vary from place to place, Aisling is most often pronounced ASH-ling. Here are some audio samples: one at YouTube, two more at Forvo.

Ashleen is one of several Anglicized forms of Aisling. To get it as close to the original as possible, she’d have to retain the stress on the first syllable: ASH-leen.

If she wants to get even closer to the original, she could try spelling without that “ee” in the last syllable. Perhaps Ashlin/Ashlyn/Ashlynn (ASH-lin) or Ashling (ASH-ling).

A reader named Jennifer has a daughter named Finlay Augustine and is now expecting another baby girl. Here’s what she says:

I would prefer to stay in the Irish or Scottish tradition, but am open. We are considering Evangeline Fae, Raleigh Fiona, and Maevy with either Fae or Fiona as a middle name. But I am open to suggestions. I don’t want a first name that begins with F and I don’t want anything too trendy or that would be difficult for others to spell or pronounce. I’m hoping the perfect name falls out of the sky before the baby comes!

Here are my thoughts on the current contenders:

Evangeline Fae
I like how the combination reminds me of Finlay Augustine in a very subtle way. But the first names on their own are so stylistically different that they might seem mismatched. (Would a nickname be used for Evangeline?)

Raleigh Fiona
Raleigh is a name I rarely see. I think it works well with Finley. The second syllables do sound alike, so there’s a bit of an echo, but that’s my only criticism.

Maevy Fae/Maevy Fiona
I’m so used to seeing Maeve that Maevy caught me off guard. (Not in a good way, to be honest.) And I don’t care for way the v and f sounds are so close together. Maevy would be my last choice of the three.

Here are ten other names I think Jennifer might like. These first 7 are not in the U.S. top 1,000 right now:

*Moira/Maura – Anglicized versions of the Irish form of Mary.

*Keeva – Simplified (and very modern-looking) form of the Irish name Caoimhe, meaning “loveliness.” It’s another v-sound, though, so might not sound terrific next to an f-name.

*Aisling – Irish vocabulary word (meaning “fantasy” or “dream”) that later became a name. The first syllable is pronounced “ash,” so this one will sound trendy (like Ashley, Ashlyn) without technically being trendy.

*Orla – Simplified form of an Irish name that means “golden princess.” Always reminds me of Isla (eye-la), but it’s less popular and easier to pronounce.

*Talulla (nn Lulu?) – Simplified form of an Irish name meaning “abundance princess.” It’s on the long side, like Evangeline, but doesn’t sound as formal.

*Maisie – Diminutive of the Scottish form of Margaret. It’s trendy across the pond, but not over here.

*Darcy – English surname that could mean a few things, including “from Arcy” (in Normandy, France). Was more common during the late ’60s and early ’70s.

And these last 3 are in the top 1,000, but wouldn’t be considered trendy:

*Tara – Irish place name that later became a name. Was trendy in the ’70s and ’80s, but has been decreasing in popularity ever since.

*Caitlin – Irish version of Katherine. Was most popular in the ’80s and ’90s, but has slowly been falling out of favor since then.

*Rory – Form of a (traditionally male) Scottish name derived from the Scottish word for red, ruadh. Has only popped up in the top 1,000 a handful of times.

What are your thoughts on Jennifer’s current favorites? What other names would you suggest for Finlay’s little sister?